A New Revolutionary
by mugiwaragrl
Summary: Dragon sat on his chair and looked at the injured child on the bed. "What did you say your name was, kid?" he said. The boy gave him a chipped tooth grin. "Sabo," he said. "My name is Sabo." *DROPPED. ...sorta. Read notice at the end for details.*
1. Chapter 1

Dragon finally appeared on deck.

"Where have you been?" asked Ivankov urgently. The, his gaze fell upon his leader's left arm. "And what is _that_?" He pointed towards the bloodstained bandage that covered his left forearm.

"I was watching the Tenryuubito event," Dragon replied. He tried to hide his injury inside his coat but Inazuma cut his bandages with his hand-scissors, revealing a long, deep gash.

"We have to treat that immediately," expressed Kuma with some concern, though it was always hard to tell how he felt. "Go to Marv immediately so he can heal you."

Dragon sighed. "Fine, I was already heading there anyway." With that, he hid his arm and walked towards the doctor's room and office.

When his friends saw him walk back towards his own room, he had new bandages indeed, but he was also carrying five or six rolls of gauze, ethylic alcohol, and many sorts of painkillers. "What is that for?" asked Inazuma, but Dragon didn't answer, so she (turned into a woman by Ivankov) gave it no further importance.

Dragon entered his chambers and assisted to the small, badly injured person on the bed. He took off his bandages and disinfected the many cuts with alcohol. The boy hissed in pain, but tried to be brave. "You were lucky that I was just passing by. You're not the only one who got hurt in the wrecks of that boat," Dragon said. He proceeded to bandage the boy's injuries with the gauze. There was only half a roll left when he finished.

·····

Outside, Kuma, Ivankov, and the rest of the revolutionaries were looking at something floating in the sea. They picked it up with a fishing rod. It was a torn top hat with a pair of goggles. They hung it on one of the mast's nails.

·····

"I'm sorry for your arm," the boy said. "But thank you for rescuing me, even though you didn't have to."

Dragon stayed silent. He left a few pills beside a glass of water next to the bed. Then he leaned back on his armchair, put his feet on the table, and his hands behind his head. After a few minutes, he spoke. "What did you say your name was, kid?"

The kid gave him a chipped tooth grin. "Sabo," he said. "My name is Sabo."


	2. Chapter 2

"That was a big explosion yesterday," one of the refugees said. "There was a kid on that boat, you know. We were close enough for me to see him."

"A kid?" another replied, startled. His mind drifted towards a boy from Gray Terminal who once stole his money on the way home. "What did he look like? Did you see that?"

The man frowned. "Couldn't see much 'cause he was covered in a long coat and a top hat, probably the one we fished out of the water yesterday."

The other man paled. "You don't mean… S-_Sabo_?"

"Sabo?" many other refugees replied.

"Sabo?" said Dragon, who was listening on a nearby chair. Everyone turned to look at their leader. "Blonde kid with a chipped tooth and upturned nose?"

The refugees looked confused. "How do you know him so well?" one of them asked.

Dragon simply said, "He's in my room."

For a second the ship was quiet. Everybody, even Kuma looked surprised. Then, most of the refugees went rushing to Dragon's room, trapped themselves in the doorway by going all at once, tripped many times, and went to see their friend from Gray Terminal. "Sabo!" they all shouted when they finally arrived.

Sabo was asleep. He woke up with a sleepy "Hmm?" When he remembered where he was and what had happened, he looked at the refugees, suddenly awake. "_Guys?_ What are you doing here?"

Instead of answering they all nearly drowned him in a group hug. "Sabo! You're alive! Thank God!" they were all saying.

"_Guys!_ My wounds!" Sabo said, barely breathing. They all dispersed, suddenly noticing that their friend was covered in bandages.

"All right people," said a weird male voice from the entrance. "Give him some space, go away," Ivankov said as he entered the room somewhat awkwardly because of his enormous face.

As the refugees sadly walked away, greeting Sabo as they did so, Inazuma and Kuma entered behind Ivankov. "Dragon told us you survived an explosion, kid," Inazuma said (again turned into a man).

Sabo grinned. "Only thanks to him, I would've drowned if he hadn't saved me," he said.

Ivankov frowned. "The thing is, Dragon doesn't save just any person he finds on his way. Which means you did or said something that moved him. So, what I'm asking is, what did you do?" he said.

Sabo thought for a second. "Back in Goa, we talked after I was attacked by some guards. I told him about how much I hate nobles and being a son of a noble makes me ashamed, and he told me he could relate. Then I passed out, and when I woke up, my injuries were bandaged and didn't hurt anymore. After that I set sail and the Tenryuubito—" he cut off.

The revolutionaries looked shocked. "Y-you were born a noble?" said Ivankov.

Sabo's rage built up. "_That_'s all you got from me? I am _not_ a noble! My only relatives are my two brothers! Those nobles are _not_ my parents!" he yelled.

The revolutionaries calmed down. They looked at each other and nodded. Then Kuma said, with a surprisingly soft voice for such a huge person, "Welcome to the revolution, Sabo," and they walked away, leaving Sabo thoroughly confused.


	3. Chapter 3

Dragon entered his bedroom in the late night to find his wounded guest and new revolutionary still awake.

"What are you doing up? It's late, go to sleep," he said.

"I can't," replied Sabo. "What did that man mean when he said 'welcome to the revolution'?"

Dragon frowned and stayed silent for a few moments, he had done this many times, but not with a kid. "You see, I am the leader of a revolution that believes the World Government is corrupt. We disagree on their policies and believe they should be taken down, that includes, of course, nobles and Tenryuubitos. We travel around the world building an army that will help us do so. Ivankov, Inazuma and Kuma are commanders of that army. We thought, from our conversation back in Goa, that you could make an excellent revolutionary. So, if you want to, you can join us."

Sabo's expression slowly changed from a confused scowl to an excited, chipped-tooth grin. "Yeah! Of course I will!" he exclaimed.

Dragon grinned and rested on his armchair in the usual manner. "Well, that's all for now. I'll tell you your role later." He said. "By the way, you did say to my comrades that you have two brothers, right?"

"Yeah, Ace and Luffy!" Sabo said happily.

Dragon's eyes widened and he gasped slightly at the mention of his son's name, though he quickly corrected himself. "Ace and _Luffy_…" he said. "Hmm, such nice names." His head nodded for a few minutes, and when Sabo thought he was asleep, he said, "For now, I think you'll be my personal assistant in the revolution." Then he started to snore.

Sabo turned around in his bed and fell asleep happily thinking of his beloved brothers.


	4. Chapter 4

*timeskip: 1 year*

Sabo woke up early, so early it was still dark. Today was his first anniversary of joining the revolution, and so far he was only Dragon's assistant, though he was treated like his son. He had to try harder to become a commander. He picked up his pipe—which he found in one of the islands they had stopped at, because his own had been lost in the explosion—and headed to the deck. He brought out the training dummies he had built out of scraps and placed them in strategic positions so that they simulated that he was surrounded by enemies. He started training.

Dragon was woken up by the sounds of a fight. He sat on his bed and continued to hear the noises coming from deck. He took his time to get dressed and headed towards the sounds with infinite patience. When he arrived, he said, "Good morning, Sabo." Someone was disarmed and a pipe shot up in the air in Dragon's direction. He was startled, but he still easily dodged it. "Oi! Be more careful, Peterson!"

Peterson was training with Sabo on top of the wrecked remains of the training dummies. The kid was winning but he got distracted by Dragon's presence and was easily disarmed. "I'm sorry, Taisa," Peterson said, bowing, and went back to his room.

Dragon picked up Sabo's pipe and started fiddling it. "You know, Sabo, today is the anniversary of you joining the revolution," he said casually.

"I know," the kid said. "I was just training with those new moves you taught me—they're really effective, by the way!"

"Nah," Dragon said. "just something that came out of my mind and that I wanted to see you try is not a big deal."

"Well, I still appreciate it," Sabo said.

"You know, fighting with a pipe is a little too street-style, but now that you are my assistant, I'd suggest you to drop it—" he was cut off by Sabo.

"What do you mean?" the boy asked accusingly.

"Let me finish!" Dragon said with a slightly irritated tone. "As I was saying, I'd suggest you to drop it, and—" he quickly went into his room and came out again with a slim and long package behind his back. "—and use this instead."

Sabo's eyes widened and his mouth gaped. Dragon tossed the object in the boy's direction. In the air it lost its brown wrapper and fell in Sabo's hands. It was a silver-grey Bo staff. "I-I…" Sabo was lost for words. He suddenly thought of something, "How will I get to use this if you never let me fight in the army?" Sabo thought aloud. "Are you going to let me fight, then?"

Dragon smirked, and Sabo knew what that meant. He grinned widely and started to pick up some of the scraps that were scattered on the floor; he wanted to rebuild his training dummies to be the best fighter.

Dragon enjoyed watching this kid putting so much effort in becoming a revolutionary. "Happy anniversary, kid."


	5. Chapter 5

The next day, Sabo woke up early again, he had to train. He quickly got dressed, including his patched top hat with his goggles, fetched his brand-new Bo staff, and headed to the deck. But what he saw there took him by surprise.

A marine boat was tied to Dragon's, and at least 20 armed marines were scouting silently on deck and were about to enter the rooms. Some marines yelled when they saw Sabo and five of them charged at him. Sabo dodged their swords and ran to the alarm bell.

Two other marines stood on the stairs blocking his way. The first one attacked Sabo, but he dodged and hit him straight in the face with his staff, breaking his nose. The second one managed to cut Sabo on the right shoulder. He flinched, but hit him in the stomach and then swung at his back, throwing the soldier off board. Sabo rushed to the bell and rang it as hard as he could.

The marines froze as they heard rumbling noises coming from under the deck. Suddenly, every revolutionary on board- now , 70 to 80 people- appeared on deck. Then Dragon came out of his chambers. He saw the marines and Sabo ringing the bell.

"All right, Peterson, Marv and Kozu, get this boat as far away as possible from the enemy," he shouted. "The rest of the men, fight with all you got!" An enthusiastic roar came from the revolutionaries.

Sabo approached his leader clenching his arm. "Dragon-taisa, what should I do? Will you let me fight?" he asked hopefully.

"I believe I was clear enough," said Dragon sternly. Sabo's face fell, but Dragon continued, "I said, the rest of the men, fight with all you got."

Sabo grinned widely and ran off. Even if he was injured, he was going to make the best out of this fight.

*****

Even though it was the doctor's room, Dragon himself was tending to Sabo's injuries. Aside from the cut on his right shoulder, he had a shallow but painful cut from his chest to his left hip, and a particularly nasty one on the left side of his face that started beside his eye and ended on his chin.

"That one will leave a scar," Dragon said. He proceeded to bandage it. "Consider yourself lucky, kid. Lots of people have to pay more than a few cuts for their first real battle."

Kozu then entered the room. "Dragon-taisa, the marines abandoned their ship."

"Very well, then. You know what to do, go look for valuable material."

"We already did, and we found something that might interest you," he said.

Dragon stood up and followed Kozu. "Sabo, you may come too," he said. Sabo grabbed his hat and followed. As they crossed the improvised bridge between the ships, Sabo wondered what could be so important that they could not handle without Dragon? They entered the ship and then a long corridor, and in the second room to the left, he found his answer.

In that room, beside the window, on top of a crate, sat a girl about Sabo's age. She was dressed in a simple night robe, and all she had in her room was a cot and the crate she was sitting on. She was also holding some kind of magazine. She didn't seem scared of the revolutionaries. "Hello," she said softly, but she seemed to be addressing Sabo. "Who are you?"

Sabo stared at her for a second. "I'm Sabo," he said. "What is your name? What are you doing here?"

"I was a prisoner," she said. "And my name is Sara."


	6. Chapter 6

Dragon welcomed Sara on board. He said she could share a room with Shinju, the weapons master, since they were the only women on board. Sara appreciated the invitation, but her only belongings were an extra dress and her magazine. She neatly folded her extra dress, put it away in her room, and went to the deck with her magazine. She went to sit on the figurehead and started reading her magazine.

Sabo watched her curiously. It was barely 8 am, but he felt as tired as if it was midnight. Dragon approached Sabo. "Could you do me a favor, Sabo?" he said. Sabo turned to him curiously. "Could you find out why she was a prisoner?" Dragon continued.

Sabo thought for a second. He had wondered about why Dragon didn't ask her any questions, he probably wanted him to do it all along. Then he nodded and ran off to Sara. He climbed the figurehead and sat beside her. "Hello Sara," he said casually.

"Hello Sabo," she responded.

"Dangerous situation for someone your age—er, how old are you?"

"Ten years. And you?"

"Eleven," Sabo said. He paused for a second. "Why did the marines have you as a prisoner?"

She smirked, but didn't look up from her magazine. "Dragon-kun sent you to find out, didn't he?"

Sabo felt nervous, "Well, yeah, but I'm sort of curious myself, you know."

Sara thought for a moment. "I was in the plaza of my hometown with a friend, and I showed her my devil fruit ability. Some marines saw me and offered me a job. I said no, so they took me by force. They said they'd take me to Sengoku-gensui for his 'approval,' I don't know what they meant."

Sabo gaped at her. "Y-you have a devil fruit ability?" he asked her. He thought about how powerful her ability would have to be to have the marines wanting her so badly.

Sara looked up and nodded. Her right hand went toward a picture of a blue butterfly. She grabbed the edge of its wing and pulled. Sabo watched in astonishment as the picture peeled off the paper and gained volume and dimension. As the butterfly hung lifeless from Sara's hand, she touched it once with her left hand's index finger and it immediately came to life. She released it and it flew away.

Sabo gaped at her. Sara smiled. "I ate the Mani Mani no Mi, it gives me the ability to manipulate any photograph, drawing or sketch…"

Sara made a gesture towards the butterfly, which was far away by now, like she was grabbing its corners with both her hands. She then separated her hands to shoulder distance, and Sabo gasped as could see the butterfly become bigger. She put her hands together to the point when they were about an inch apart, and Sabo could see the giant butterfly shrink to match the size of a moth. Then she made a different gesture, like the butterfly had a rope and she was pulling it, and the tiny butterfly came closer and closer to them. She grabbed it softly and touched it with her little finger. Its pattern stayed the same but it changed from a deep blue color to a bright orange one. Then she let it go and it just flew upwards until they lost sight of it.

"I know it seems useless, but it really isn't," Sara said.

Sabo smirked; she reminded him of his brother, Luffy. "I know it's not useless, but why would the marines want it?" he asked.

Sara pulled a paper out of the back of her magazine. It had a picture of some sort of heavy-duty marine weapon. "They wanted to make me bring this to life," she said. "I heard them murmur something about the government and about how they won't need the 'Poneglyph' or something like that."

Sabo frowned, he had no idea of what this 'Poneglyph' was, but probably Dragon would know. He decided he had heard enough. He stood up and said, "Have you had any breakfast yet? I'm hungry, wanna go eat something?"

Sara smiled. "Sure," she said, and they both walked off to the kitchen.

·····

That evening, Sara was going to sleep in the room she shared with Shinju.

"Do you miss your mom and dad?" Shinju asked sympathetically.

"I didn't have mom and dad," Sara replied. "I lived in an orphanage. I only miss my friend, Ran." She stayed silent for a moment. "I heard you're part of a revolution," she said.

Shinju smiled. "Yes, Dragon-taisa is our leader."

"Can I join please? I hate the marines and the government! They took from me all I had! I've been in that ship for months and they treated me like a slave! They only want weapons, and they'll end up destroying the world!" Sara exclaimed with a sudden emotional outburst that took even her by surprise.

"Hmm, you'll have to speak to Dragon-taisa," Shinju said. "But not right now, wait until tomorrow. Now, good night." She turned off the lamp and they went to sleep.


	7. Chapter 7

Sara woke up with a good feeling for the first time in months. She quickly got dressed and headed outside. She was surprised, not by the fact that it was so early it was before sunrise, but because of the other person awake and on deck.

Naturally, Sabo was training with his Bo staff. Peterson hadn't woken up so he was currently smashing a training dummy to the point where it couldn't be rebuilt. Then he noticed Sara and stopped.

"What are you doing up?" he asked.

"I could ask you the same thing," she said, smiling.

Sabo frowned. "I train, and you?"

"I was going to speak to Dragon-kun, but then I noticed it was still dark," she said.

"What did you want to tell him?"

Sara thought for a moment. "I wanted to ask him if I could join the revolution," she said.

Sabo's eyes lit up. "Really? You're interested?"

Sara nodded, but then she lowered her head. "But now that I think of it, he'll never let me join," she said unenthusiastically.

"No! Really! If you're saying that because you're a girl, look at Shinju! And if it's because of your age, look at me! I've been here for a year now!" Sabo said encouragingly. "You need a good reason though, you have one right?" he said.

"Of course I do," Sara said.

Sabo stayed silent to see if she wanted to tell him the reason, but apparently she didn't. "Well," he said after a while. "Do you have any fighting skills, Sara?" he asked.

"Not particularly, but I'm usually good with the bow and arrow. They used to give archery classes back at the orphanage," she let go unexpectedly, but she quickly covered it up by saying, "but I haven't practiced in months."

Sabo went running under the deck and came out again with a large wooden bow and a few arrows. "The sun is rising, so you can see your target—which, for the moment, will be this," he showed her a large newspaper picture of the Marine fleet admiral, Sengoku. He hung it on the opposite side of the ship.

What they didn't notice is that Dragon had woken up and stood in the entrance to his room watching the kids from a distance.

Sara held the bow firmly. It was a little heavy, but she could manage. She hooked the arrow to the bow and pulled the string. It tightened, then she aimed, and let go. Dragon watched in amazement how the arrow soared across the ship and hit Sengoku's image right between the eyes.

"Not bad," he said aloud. Sabo and Sara were startled to see the revolutionary leader behind them, observing them. "I heard you saying you wanted to join, Sara." he said.

Sara looked a little bit shy. "I have a good reason," she said.

"I'm sure you do, you can tell me later," Dragon said. "We could use a good archer like you, but you're not ready to fight. For now, you'll be Sabo's partner. Let's see what you both achieve in the revolution through time." He went back into his chamber.


	8. Chapter 8

*timeskip: 1 more year*

Sabo and Sara were training, again. Now that they were in Baltigo, they could have all the space they wanted. They used a plain space surrounded by rocks that was about half a mile from the castle that was their base. Sara shot blunt arrows at Sabo, and he deflected them with his staff. Even if it was about twice his size he was very skillful with it and didn't miss a single arrow.

"You've improved," Sara said without stopping.

"You're not bad either," Sabo replied. Just as he said that Sara's bowstring snapped.

Sara cursed. "Not again…" she said. The abandoned bow she had gotten on Dragon's ship was a good one, but it was very old, and the bowstring had snapped twice already.

Sabo frowned. "It's time you replaced that bow, you know," he said.

Sara sighed. "I wish I could, but it's not like it will magically appear out of thin air."

Sabo ran to the edges of their training space, where the rocks were. He reached into a gap between some rocks and brought out a package. As he approached Sara he held it behind his back, though it was slightly taller than him. "You know what day is today, right?" he said. "It's the anniversary of your joining the army!"

Sara nodded, she knew very well what day it was, though she half hoped no one would remember—she didn't like being in the spotlight.

"You know, Dragon gave me my staff for my first anniversary. So, I figured the least I could do is give you this." Sabo gave her the package behind his back. Sara looked at it suspiciously, then at him. She started to unwrap it and Sabo said, "It's from Shinju too, I asked her to make it for you, 'cause she's very good at making these kinds of things."

As Sara finished unwrapping her gift, she gasped in astonishment. It was a brand-new wooden bow, still shining from the polishing wax. She held it in her right hand, it had a perfect balance. She tried it with a spare arrow. It flew smoothly and landed right where she wanted it to.

Sara grinned widely and couldn't help but hug Sabo. It wasn't only the gift itself, but throughout the past year, he had always been there for her. He always trained with her, and told her how to improve. Every time he heard her cry at night for her parents and occasionally her friend Ran, he was there, being sympathetic and cheering her up. Every time she lost hope for moving on with her life after her parents' death, he would be there to tell her that she had him, and that he would never leave.

Sara stood on tiptoes and gave him a tiny, small, and particularly childish kiss on the cheek. Sabo jumped back slightly. They both blushed and fell into an awkward pause. Sara seemed a little ashamed. Sabo touched the cheek she had kissed, he looked confused, but he had a small, barely discernible grin on his face.

"Ermm, shall we continue training?" Sabo said.

"Yeah, of course," Sara said, eager to escape from the uncomfortable silence.

She grabbed some arrows and Sabo grabbed his staff, and they continued training until sundown.


	9. Chapter 9

"Sabo, Sara, come here," Shinju called. She was standing over the rocks that surrounded the training grounds, looking down on the kids. Dragon had sent her to fetch his assistants, who had been out for hours; it was already dark.

Sabo looked up first, who was close enough to hear the weapons master, and received one of Sara's blunt arrows. Sara searched for the source of distraction and found Shinju. She put down her bow and approached her. "What's up?" Sara said casually.

"Dragon-taisa is calling you, he wants you to be in a meeting," she said. Sabo's face lit up. In his two years of belonging to the revolution Dragon hadn't allowed him and Sara to enter his meetings with other commanders.

"Why would he want us in his meetings?" Sara asked curiously.

"Dunno, didn't ask. But let's go, you don't wanna be late do you?" Shinju replied with a smirk on her face. She didn't mention Sara's new bow, which was crafted by her, probably because she knew Sara didn't like having much attention. But she noticed it and was glad on the inside that it came in useful.

Sabo and Sara picked up their weapons and jumped over the rocks surrounding them. As they followed Shinju to the castle, they slowed down so they could talk in private. "Do you think he'll give us a mission?" Sabo asked excitedly.

"Don't be silly," Sara said, but she too was secretly hoping for one, as impossible as it seemed. They kept on discussing the possibilities of getting one until they reached the castle.

Shinju led them to a long wide hallway that was on the left side of the entrance hall. She stopped suddenly about halfway across in front of a life-sized portrait of a boy. Shinju knocked five times on the portrait. The boy's eyes peeled away like they were some sort of window opened towards the inside, and a pair of living eyes replaced them. They scanned the visitors, hesitated for a second, and then the portrait swung outwards, revealing a torch-lit corridor.

The person who opened the door was Peterson. "Are these two coming?" he gestured towards Sabo and Sara.

"It's an order from Dragon-taisa," she replied simply. Peterson led them through the corridor and ended up in a spacious rectangular conference room with a large world map on the floor (a/n much like the one in Strong World).

Dragon was at the head, at both his sides were two rows of eight seats each, all taken; the first six of each row by revolutionary commanders, and the other two by informants. Most of the people were unknown by Sabo and Sara, but among them were Ivankov, with Inazuma at his side, and Kuma. There was an empty seat directly on Dragon's right side, and two on his left.

Shinju led Sara and Sabo around the commanders and to the two seats at Dragon's left and she sat at his right. Over time, she had become Dragon's right hand.

Dragon looked up and said, "Now that we are all here, we can start. Ivankov, you said you had something important to tell us."

The okama queen cleared his throat. "The World Government has started to take more rash actions towards our forces. The entire eighth division was captured and taken to Tequila Wolf, and they are starting to suspect Kamabakka kingdom is involved…"

Sabo and Sara paid as much attention as they could to what the commander was saying, because if they were sometime going to be commanders of the revolution, they needed to understand its action.

As Ivankov finished his report, Dragon spoke. "Umizou, any news about Nico Robin?"

"It is said that she betrayed the Blue Eagle organization in South Blue, and that she entered Grand Line about two weeks ago," a tall, thin man in his thirties replied. "She was seen around Whiskey Peak."

"Very well," Dragon looked for a minute at the world map on the floor, and looked up at Umizou. "The fifth division is lodged around the area, they'll search for her." Then he addressed Shinju. "Shinju, what about Akagami?"

"He sent a message," she said, and at Dragon's silent command, she continued. "He said to wait for him in Sabaody in one year."

"One year?" he said. "Damn, he's lazy…"

The commanders continued to give reports in turn until the meeting was over, then they left one by one until only Dragon and his assistants were left. "Remember what Shinju said?" the leader said to the kids.

"The thing about Akagami? Yeah," Sabo said.

"I want you two to go there and meet him," he said.

The kids were taken aback. It was already an honor to be invited to the meeting, and now he was sending them to a mission, an important one, no less.

"Akagami no Shanks is a pirate," Dragon continued." But we're close friends, and he's harmless if you're not enemies. I can't go myself, so you'd have to go by yourselves. Will you do this task for me?" he looked at Sabo and Sara.

"We'd be honored," Sara said with a smile.

Dragon gave them a small, two-person boat, new sets of clothes (which included a standard revolutionary cloak), a Log Pose with the quickest route to Sabaondy, a Den Den Mushi, and maps of islands they were to visit. With Sara's wonderful navigational and archery skills and Sabo's amazing fighting skills (perfected over time, now he was able to defeat several fellow revolutionaries), they would have no problem getting safely to the archipelago. Besides, in every island they were supposed to go was a checkpoint, usually a small store or bar, so that they would only have to say the keywords and Dragon would be informed of their position and they would be given supplies for the journey.

"Remember you have to use the same keywords with Shanks, that way he will know you are," Dragon told them as they set out. "And watch out for the slave traders when you get there!"

Sabo and Sara waved their goodbyes as they set out on their journey to meet Shanks.


	10. Chapter 10

Sabo and Sara arrived at Sabody about one month before the year given was over. After they arrived, they received a call from the Den Den Mushi.

It was Sabo who answered. "Hello?" he said.

"Sabo, it's me," the person said. Sabo relaxed; it was Dragon. "Have you arrived yet?" he said.

"Yeah, just did. We're in grove 46," Sabo said.

"Good, that's a safe area. Listen, remember last time I called you? I think the Government might have intercepted that call."

"What?" Sara, who was also participating in the call, exclaimed. "This is bad, there was a lot of information in that call!"

"Precisely," Dragon said. "This time I'm using a White Den Den Mushi. Be ready for an attack, but _do not_ lay a finger on the Tenryuubito folk."

"Dragon-taisa, but aren't we supposed to bring down the World Government?" Sabo said.

"Are you ready to fight an admiral?" Dragon said. As Sabo didn't answer, he continued, "Didn't think so. Get your stuff, including the Den Den Mushi, and leave the boat. Go to grove 13 to a place called Shakky's Rip-Off Bar. Remember the keywords, call me back when you're there." With that, Dragon hung up.

Both kids remained silent for a second, until Sara spoke. "Well, you heard him, let's go!" They went inside and came back out with a small bag each and their weapons. It was a good thing that they hadn't brought much, just the necessary stuff, and they were low on food, so they decided to leave that behind. They jumped off the boat and headed to grove 13.

On their way they passed the amusement park, the hotel district, and the Sabao-Dome. They followed the grove numbers in a descending order, from grove 40, to grove 39, to grove 38, and so on. When they reached grove 30, right before the lawless district, they were circled by a group of about thirty marines.

"That's them!" the leader said. "Sabo, the rebel, ex-noble of Goa Kingdom; and Sara, the maker, former princess of White Kingdom!"

Sara flinched at the mention of her real identity, and Sabo gaped at her, but didn't say a word. Instead, he gripped his staff, and Sara hooked an arrow to her bow.

"Do not hesitate just because they're children! They're high-ranking revolutionaries directly under Dragon's command!" the leader yelled, and he charged. Sabo received the attack, and easily disarmed the marine and hit him in the head, knocking him unconscious.

The other marines stopped for a second, then attacked. The kids dropped their bags and started fighting. Sara limited herself to shooting at arms and legs in order to immobilize, but Sabo had no mercy at all. He hit with all his might to the most vulnerable spots he could think of. Soon enough, all the marines lay bleeding on the grass. Some were unconscious missing some teeth and with many broken bones; the rest were paralyzed by the arrows piercing their limbs. The kids picked up their things and continued their way.

Sara was thankful that Sabo didn't ask any questions, because she wasn't ready to talk about _that_ topic just yet.

When they entered the lawless groves, they immediately noticed the difference between these and the other groves. Pirate ships were docked at the coast, and some were attacking each other. Bounty hunters could be seen around the groves chasing pirates, dueling with them, or even executing them.

Sabo and Sara continued on their way with little trouble. Once, a pirate had tried to assault Sara, but Sabo easily knocked him unconscious before he could lay a finger on her. Another time, a slave trader tried to put a collar on Sabo, but two arrows sprouted from each of his arms, making him drop the collar and fall to the floor squirming in pain.

"Thanks," Sabo said.

"Now we're even," Sara replied with a grin.

They finally reached grove 13, and it was deserted. There were many bars and hotels, but they all looked abandoned – except one. The sign read '_Shakky's Rip-off Bar_.'

"This must be it," Sabo said and knocked on the door. A small window on the door opened and a pair of eyes peeked out.

"Who calls to the hermit's cave?" a female voice said.

"Someone who treads on snow yet feels no cold," Sara replied without hesitation.

The eyes widened a little, nevertheless the door was unlocked and opened. A tall, black-haired woman greeted them. "Step inside," she said.

Sabo and Sara blinked; for a second they thought they were looking at Shinju, but with shorter hair. But they knew that would be impossible, since Shinju was with Dragon somewhere else in Grand Line, and as they stepped inside and got a closer look, they noticed that the woman's lips were slightly thicker and her eyes weren't blue like the weapons master's.

"You must be Sabo and Sara," the woman said. "I'm Shakuyaku, but you may call me Shakky. Make yourselves at home," she said as she locked the door again.

"Thanks, Shakky-san," Sara said. She and Sabo dropped their bags beside the counter and sat on its stools.

"Do you want anything to drink or eat?" Shakky said as she walked behind the counter.

"Uh, I'll have a Cola, please," Sabo said.

"I'd just like some water," Sara said.

Shakky, smiled, and a few moments later they were both drinking happily. "So, how long have you been in the revolution?" she said.

Sabo stopped drinking and wiped his mouth. "Three years," he said and pointed to himself with his thumb.

"Two years," Sara said raising her hand slightly.

"What? That can't be, how old are you?" Shakky said, smile never leaving her face.

"I'm thirteen," Sabo said. "And she's twelve."

"Wow, you guys sure are young for an elite revolutionary. Believe me, I know your mission, and it's not one that Dragon would give to any normal person."

Sabo and Sara silently felt proud that Dragon trusted them so much.

"And how long have _you _been in the revolution?" Sara asked.

"Oh, I'm just an ally," Shakky said. "Say, do you know Shinju?"

Sabo snorted. "Know her? We've been partners since forever!"

"She's my little sister," Shakky said.

"Ha! No surprise there, the resemblance is remarkable!" Sara said cheerfully.

Just then, the door was unlocked and opened, and an old yet surprisingly fit man entered the bar.

"Ah, Ray, what a timing." Shakky greeted. "Guys, this is–"

"Silvers Rayleigh!" Sabo exclaimed in awe, looking wide-eyed at the man.

Rayleigh laughed. "I guess you know me!" he said.

"Who doesn't!" Sabo jumped down from his stool. "Dark King Rayleigh, Gold Roger's first man!"

Rayleigh extended his hand. "Pleasure to meet you, Sabo, of the revolutionaries!" he said grinning.

Sabo squealed and looked ready to faint, but he didn't, and he shook Rayleigh's hand, giggling nervously.

After Sabo had gotten over it, Rayleigh introduced himself to Sara, and stayed to chat for a while. Then Shakky went upstairs and showed the kids their room. It was a small yet comfy room, and it had two single beds, a couch, a table, two wide windows and a bathroom. Seeing as it was already late night, Shakky and Rayleigh went back downstairs, and the kids got ready to sleep.

Sara sat down on the edge of her bed and sighed. "I guess I owe you an explanation for earlier," she said.

Sabo looked at her. He was going to ask her, but he was surprised that she had brought up the topic herself. "I guess you do," he said and sat on his own bed, facing Sara.

"My parents… they didn't die," she started. "They're the King and Queen of White Kingdom in South Blue. It's a small, kingdom, yet well-known by its beauty and so-called 'perfection.' I was always in my room and got to walk on the garden once a day, because my parents were afraid that I'd cause any trouble after one time that something happened – I don't even remember what. One day, when we were having dinner and I was seven, a merchant came and tried to sell us a Devil Fruit, and I accidentally ate it. When my parents saw what I had done, they threw me out, disowned me, _banished_ me. They saw my strange power as an imperfection that would ruin their reputation. I wouldn't have survived if it wasn't for Aiko, one of the servants that was usually my babysitter. She took me to her hometown, to the local orphanage. Then I was kidnapped by the marines, and then you rescued me."

Sabo looked at Sara and wasn't surprised to see a silent tear running down her cheek. Now he understood. She wasn't sad or angry for the fact that they threw her out, but for the reason. Her hatred towards the Government wasn't only for kidnapping her, but because of her parents being perfectionist royalty. All those years ago when he'd heard her crying at night for her parents – she wasn't crying for them, no, she was cursing them.

Sabo leaned forward and wiped Sara's tear with his thumb. "Well, we both joined the revolution, right?" Sabo said encouragingly. "We'll make this world right." With that, he pulled Sara into a hug.

Sara was surprised, but she hugged back. She was so glad that they had each other.


	11. Chapter 11

The days spent at Shakky's Rip-Off Bar quickly turned into weeks. Sabo and Sara were deeply disappointed by the lack of activities, and every day was more boring than the last one. Until one day, Rayleigh brought back an interesting piece of news. He had been out for a few days, probably gambling, so Shakky and the kids hadn't seen much of him.

"When you were coming here a couple weeks ago," he said. "Did you happen to stumble across any marines?"

"Well, yeah," Sara said. "They attacked us, so we defended ourselves."

"Did you leave them alive?" Rayleigh asked calmly.

Sabo chuckled darkly. "Barely," he said.

"Well," Rayleigh continued. "They remembered you." He pulled from his bag two pieces of paper and showed them to the kids. They were wanted posters, _their _wanted posters.

Sabo and Sara took their respective ones in their hands and stared at them.

Shakky, who was just passing by, looked at the posters over their shoulders and read out loud. "Sabo 'the rebel' and Sara 'the maker,'" she said. "Elite revolutionaries directly under Dragon's command. Forty million Beli each!" She looked at the kids expectantly. "Well?"

Sabo looked at her. "What is there to say?" he said, then he and Sara grinned widely.

"WE PISSED OFF THE GOVERNMENT!" they chanted gleefully.

Shakky smiled, and Rayleigh laughed out loud. "I'm glad you take it that way!" he said and went to get something to drink.

Sabo and Sara woke to the ringing of their Den Den Mushi. They groaned and Sara picked up the reciever.

"Hello?" she said drowsily.

"Guys, I got some good and bad news," the voice on the other side said, and the kids straightened up when they identified it as Dragon's.

"What's the bad news?" Sabo said.

"Akagami contacted me, he said he won't be able to get there in time."

"What? But it was him that set the meeting date!" Sara said.

Dragon sighed, "I know."

"Then when will he be here?" Sabo asked.

"Uhh, in about... a year."

Both of the kids facepalmed in exasperation. "What's the good news then?" Sara asked.

"Ah," Dragon said. The kids could practically _hear_ him grinning widely. "You'll have to ask Rayleigh for that!" he chuckled. "Anyways, how do you feel about your new bounties?"

It was their turn to chuckle. "We pissed off the Government," Sabo said with a singsong tone.

"Well, congratulations then!" Dragon said brightly. "I trust that you'll be careful, and maybe piss them off a little more." They all laughed.

"So what do we do now?" Sara said.

"Stay in Sabaody for the meantime, maybe destroy some slave shops, rent a bubble-bike, I don't know, play cards with Rayleigh, and don't forget to ask him!" With that, he hung up.

Sara put the reciever down. "What time is it?"

Sabo looked at the clock on the wall opposite them. "Half past six. We better go down for some breakfast."

Apparently, Rayleigh and Shakky were not morning people. Sabo and Sara sat in the living room for two hours until one of them woke up. Shakky drowsily walked into the kitchen to get some coffee, then went back to her bedroom without so much as looking at the kids. They figured out she was just sleepwalking.

Finally, Rayleigh walked into the living room, fully awoken. "Good morning," he said. "Any _news_?"

The kids laughed, they knew what he meant, and he obviously wanted them to ask. "Dragon-taisa called, he said we'll be staying here for a year," Sabo said.

"But there's a bright side to that," Sara said. "So, what is it?"

"Exactly," Rayleigh said and sat down. "Dragon-kun also spoke to me. Now, I trust you have been training yourselves since you joined, am I right?"

"Yeah, every single day," Sabo said.

"Well, how would you like a trainer?" Rayleigh asked, grinning.

"Well, maybe..." Sabo stopped himself as the meaning of Rayleigh's words slowly dawned on him (A/N Sabo fangirl mode: on). "Y-you mean..."

"_You_ will train us?" Sara said, surprised.

"If it's no problem to you!" Rayleigh laughed.

"Y-y-you will train us..." Sabo continued, entranced. "For a year..." he stared off into space for a second. Then, his dumbfounded expression slowly turned into a slight smile, then into a grin, then he beamed widely. "When do we start? What will you teach us?" Sabo exclaimed. He started running around the place gleefully, shouting out many questions like those and occasionally showing off some moves with his staff. Shakky and Rayleigh watched him and laughed for a while before Sara managed to stop him.

"To answer your second question," Rayleigh said. "It's up to you how much you'll let me teach you in a year. As for the first one," Rayleigh looked at the kids and grinned. "We start in the next three to five minutes."


	12. Chapter 12

A/N: about time, right? Sorry for lateness XD I did a Holes oneshot with Jordan in it in the meantime though!

_One year later..._

Shakky was in the kitchen looking at the set of papers that the News Coo brought. For the past year, Sabo and Sara had been training with Rayleigh daily, but somehow they found the time to mess with the slave traders. They had eliminated two slave organisations and destroyed more than fifteen stores, freeing all the captives in them. But even though they were all in the lawless groves, the marines had somehow kept track of them, and so their bounties rose from forty million to ninety million beli each, an amazing sum for two teenagers.

They already knew about their new bounties, for they saw them that very morning, and they had the same reaction to when they received their first ones, but right now they were training with Rayleigh.

Shakky saw something from the corner of her eye, and looked out the window. There was a pirate ship around the outer groves, big enough to be spotted from Grove 13, and that's saying something. She leaned out the window and picked up her binoculars, directing her view to the ship. It was a huge galleon with the name of 'Red Force'. Shakky gasped, and she adjusted her binoculars and fixed them on the ship's black flag.

On that moment, Sabo, Sara and Rayleigh entered the kitchen covered in sweat.

"Guys," she said. "He's here."

"Wha-?" Sabo ran to Shakky and she handed him her binoculars. He fixed them on the ship and looked at the flag. An open-mouthed skull on two crossed swords and three scars on its left eye. It was Akagami's flag.

Sabo handed the binoculars to Sara. After a few moments of observation she spoke. "There's no one on deck," she said.

"Maybe they already disembarked," Shakky said. "You should try and locate them."

"Yeah Sabo," Rayleigh grinned. "Find them."

Sabo grinned back and nodded. He stepped back from the window and closed his eyes. Everyone around him started feeling a slight sensation of being watched, so light that they wouldn't have noticed unless they had been searching for it.

On the other hand, Sabo's Kenbunshoku Haki was expanding rapidly from the kitchen, to the whole hotel, to all of Grove 13, to all the lawless groves. He stopped there, since he knew Shanks wouldn't go further, and listened to the 'voices' that every person emitted. It wasn't long until he found the redhair and his crew, since most of them could use Haki and were making themselves as noticeable as possible so they could be found by the revolutionaries. Of course, their plan had many flaws, but Sabo figured they were strong enough to be able to take care of any Marines that went after them. Anyways, he found them at Grove 27.

Sabo looked up. "Found 'em. Let's go!" Sara and him started heading to the door.

"Wait a second, you," Shakky said. Both of them froze and slowly turned around. "I know Shanks is a pirate, but look at yourselves!"

Sabo and Sara looked down at their own bodies. They were both covered in sweat with their clothes clinging to their skin. They also had their limbs and faces covered in dirt and they smelled pretty bad.

"Go take a shower!" she scolded.

Sabo and Sara pouted, but the girl quickly recovered. "I call first!" she exclaimed and dashed upstairs.

Sabo snapped out of it and quickly followed. "Hey! You went first yesterday!" they could hear him shouting, followed by the sound of a door being slammed. Sabo came back downstairs with a lump on his forehead, and went to the fridge to drink some cola.

Once they were both clean, Shakky gave each of them a new set of clothes. Sabo had long jeans, a light blue scarf, a long-sleeve shirt and a deep blue waistcoat that matched his usual top hat. Sara had a white blouse, a purple sweater, capri jeans and black sandals.

Both of them looked through their room and finally found the coats that Dragon had given them last time they had seen him. They were told to use it when doing something 'in the name of the revolution' - or if they just needed to hide their identities. In this case, they were sort of doing both, so Sabo and Sara put on the coats on top o their clothes, but left them open at the front.

With that, they picked up their weapons and went on their way to Grove 27.

Benn Beckman spotted Sabo and Sara as they walked through Grove 25. He simply joined them in their walk and went silently beside them for a few yards, until Sabo spoke. "The weather's been nice lately," he said casually.

Ben smirked. "Yeah, but they say tsunamis are unavoidable these days."

Sabo and Sara looked satisfied with the keywords. "I'm Sabo," he said and shook hands with Benn.

"Sara," the girl said and also shook hands with him.

"Benn Beckman, I'm Shanks' first mate," he said.

They walked in an awkward silence for a few moments until Sara broke the ice. "I'm sorry Beckman-san, but should which is your name - Benn or Beckman?"

Benn laughed. "In my family, the family name goes after," he said. "Weird, huh? So you can call me Benn."

"Right," Sara said.

"So, how long have you been in the revolution?"

Sabo grinned at the familiar question. "Four years," he said.

"Three," Sara said for herself.

"Wow, how old are you?"

Sara almost laughed; this was going the same way as it was going with Shakky! "I'm thirteen, he's fourteen," she said.

"Oi, oi, why are you smiling like that?" Benn asked, though he was grinning himself.

"Nah, it's nothing," Sabo said. "We just get these questions very often."

"Really," Benn said. Then he decided to change the topic. "You kids can use Haki?"

"Yeah, how did you know?" Sara said.

"We felt you earlier. How did you learn."

"Rayleigh taught us," Sabo said.

"Really? Silvers Rayleigh?"

Sabo grinned. "Him."

"Well, you mention that to Shanks and he'll be real happy," Benn grinned. They entered Grove 27 and stopped when they reached a broken down hotel. Its name was boarded up, and so were the windows and front door. But this didn't seem to bother Benn, since he pulled the door open without taking off the wooden boards, revealing that they were only nailed to the door, not to the wall.

Sabo and Sara entered and Benn closed the door behind them. The revolutionaries weren't surprised at all by the bizarre meeting place. After all, they were meeting pirates, and they had been in similar places (for example, the basement of an abandoned fortress).

Benn led them through some corridors and up a staircase. They could hear lots of noise coming from the top floor, the one they were heading for. They reached the fifth and last floor, and stopped in front of the door from which most of the noise was coming from. "You'll have to excuse my captain for his ways," Benn said, grinning, as he opened the door.

Sabo and Sara entered, and there he was. The candidate for Yonko, Akagami no Shanks - slumped on the couch, holding a mug of sake and beaming almost drunkenly as he enjoyed the party that was currently going on with all of his crew.


	13. Chapter 13

Shanks, Benn, and the revolutionaries were sitting in the middle of the party, in one of the living room's couches, talking about their bounties and their time at Sabaody. The musicians were playing Binks' Sake at maximum volume, and every person was singing, shouting, dancing, drinking, or all at once, with Yasopp and Lucky Roo being the loudest.

"SO OLD RAYLEIGH TAUGHT YOU!" Shanks shouted over the noise. "MUST'VE BEEN QUITE AN EXPERIENCE!"

"YOU WERE ON HIS CREW, RIGHT?" Sabo shouted back.

"YEAH! HOW DIDJA KNOW?"

"DRAGON TOLD US!"

"OH YEAH! SO HOW'S HE DOING?"

"HAVEN'T SEEN HIM IN A WHILE, BUT SEEMS OKAY!"

"WELL, GIVE HIM THIS!" Shanks handed Sabo a scroll. "IT'S WHAT HE SENT YOU TO GET FROM ME! FEEL FREE TO READ IT!"

Sabo opened the scroll and read it. It looked like a report, but it was hard to tell from the immense amount of doodles and the man's messy handwriting. Sara looked at it over his shoulder and read it too. First there was a list of allied islands and their information about the Government. Not much that was new to them. Then there were letters from other commanders and one of them said -

Sabo gasped and his eyed widened. "Umizou is... _dead._" His mind was blank as he stopped registering the noise from the party.

"Yes," Shanks said gravely, the grin disappearing from his face. "Traveled with us for a couple weeks, good fella he was."

Sara looked downwards. "He trained with us sometimes, back at Baltigo," she said sadly.

Sabo continued looking through the report. "Ivankov was arrested!" he exclaimed. That regained Sara's attention.

"Taken to Impel Down?" she read out loud.

Benn nodded. "For now, it is impossible to do anything. But I recommend that as soon as the Government shows any signs of weakness, you act upon it."

Sabo nodded and put the scroll away. He sighed. "Anyways, there's something I need to tell you," he told Shanks.

The redhead regained his cheery mood. "Oh yeah? What is it then?"

Sabo took a deep breath as he got ready to say the words he had been itching to tell the pirate. He stood up and bowed. "Arigato for saving Luffy four years ago."

The men around them stooped shouting and suddenly paid attention to the conversation, though the music kept playing.

"Eh? You know Luffy?" Yasopp exclaimed happily.

Shanks beamed and laughed. "Dahahaha! How come?"

"He's my little brother," Sabo replied smiling.

"Nani?" Shanks' expression turned into one of bewilderment and he almost spat out the sake he was drinking. "Y-you mean you're also Dragon's son? No wonder he sent you here..."

Sabo was puzzled. "Wha-? No, we swore to be brothers when we shared a cup of sake! And... what do you mean _also_ Dragon's son?"

The red-haired pirate calmed down and the grin returned to his face. "Daha, so he didn't tell you?"

Sabo sat back down and leaned forward, eager to hear what Shanks wanted to tell him.

"Luffy is Dragon's son!"

For a second, only the music could be heard, not a sound left the pirates and revolutionaries. Then Sabo's jaw fell to the floor and everyone roared in laughter at the sight.

"Dragon-taisa is Luffy's DAD?" he shouted over the noise.

"Dahahahaha! Yeah!" Shanks laughed loudly. "Why d'you think I docked at Foosha so often? He wanted me to keep an eye on Luffy!"

"Wait a second, how did you know each other? I thought you were just an informant!"

"Daha, just an informant you say? My, you insult me!" Shanks said jokingly. "We've been friends since forever! I don't mind telling you the story, if you wanna hear it."

Sabo leaned back on the couch and relaxed a bit. "Sure, now you got me interested," he grinned.

"Well, as you might know, Dragon was born a in Goa kingdom, but he didn't like the fact. He was suffocated by the rules and moral code or summat. He used to escape the city and head to Gray Terminal ever since he was seven. That's how we met."

Sabo nodded thoughtfully - that was how _he_ met Ace.

"I was also seven and living in the Trash Mountains when I found him wandering aimlessly through the mess," Shanks continued. "He doesn't exactly have an awesome sense of direction, ya know. It's sort of like Luffy. Anyways, it was getting late and a couple thugs tried to rob him. He fought of course, and took down one of them, but the other one was very persistent. So I joined Dragon and before they knew it, the thugs were both face-down on the ground." Shanks snickered at the memories. "He came to visit Gray Terminal every day ever since, most of the time he even stayed over for a couple nights. We talked about how screwed up the nobles were, and he told me how he wanted to change the world. I just said I wanted to be a pirate."

Sabo was amazed at how similar his and Dragon's pasts were._ Maybe this is why he saved me from the explosion_, he thought to himself. _I knew he could relate, but not __**that**__ much._

Shanks continued his story. "One day, we went down to Foosha to find that some pirates had docked there, the Roger Pirates." Sabo perked up at the mention of the legendary pirate crew. "We found them at the bar that now belong to Makino," there was a tiny hint of a longing sigh from the pirate as he mentioned the bartender's name. "I'd heard of them before, the most wanted pirates in East Blue, so I asked them if I could join."

Sabo almost laughed at the absurdity, but stopped since he himself had joined the revolution at a very young age too.

Shanks saw that and smirked. "They accepted me and we set off the next day."

**flashback**

Two teenage boys were standing beside a small ship at the borders of Foosha village. One of them, the younger one, was carrying a small bag.

"Hey, is it okay with you?" the red-haired one asked.

"It's your dream, isn't it?" the raven-haired one answered with a sad smile.

"What will you do?" Shanks asked.

"Eh, I'll stay a few years until oyaji comes back, then I set off," Dragon said confidently.

"To where?"

"Anywhere as long as I'm free..." he sighed. "I can't believe you'll leave before I do - you're thirteen!"

The younger boy laughed. "And you're fifteen! Really, there's not much difference!"

"Oi, Akagami!" Someone called. The boys looked up and saw the blonde first man of the Roger pirates leaning over the railing of the ship. "You coming or not?" he grinned.

"In a second Rayleigh-san!" Shanks answered and picked up his bag.

"_Akagami_, eh?" Dragon said.

"Daha! I guess!" Shanks answered as he started climbing the rope ladder. "Look for it in the bounty posters!" he climbed on the boat.

"Don't you get killed!" Dragon said as the ship started moving.

Shanks smirked. "Take care of little Makino for me!" he waved at his friend.

"Count on it!" Dragon waved back

The ship went out of earshot, and soon out of sight too.

**end of flashback**

"A few years later, after Roger's execution, I recieved a letter from him, saying that he left a son at Foosha. He asked me to keep an eye on him until he was seven or eight, and then Garp would take him somewhere," Shanks finished. Everyone had gone back to partying except the revolutionaries, Benn and himself. "Dahaha! To be honest, I was worried about Luffy being left to that geezer!"

Sabo rubbed the back of his neck. "Heh, Garp-san gave us some trouble back then," he smiled. Suddenly he remembered his brothers, Luffy and Ace, and felt a surge of guilt; he hadn't contacted them since he left Foosha. He was convinced that it would get them into trouble with the nobles, so he abstained from trying to call them or write them a letter. Right now, both of them would be training to become pirates. Luffy would be eleven and Ace fourteen; three years until Ace departed. He remembered him saying that the first thing he'd do was find Akagami and express him his thanks.

"Ne, Shanks?" Sabo asked thoughtfully.

"Yeah?" Shanks answered, taking a sip from a sake bottle.

"In about three years, a pirate called Ace will come find you."

"Daha, is that supposed to be a warning?"

"No! No, actually, he'll also thank you for saving Luffy - he's his brother too."

"Another one?" he laughed.

"Yeah. Anyway, could you please tell him... uhh... that I'm still alive?"

"Wha-? He doesn't know?" Shanks almost spat out his sake for a second time that day.

"Uhh, he probably thinks I died about four years ago," Sabo said sheepishly.

"Well, we're not messengers, but if this Ace guy really comes I'll try to remember," Shanks said with a grin, then he addressed his first mate. "Oi Benn, will you remember for me?"

"Sure," Benn replied.

"Dahaha, alright!" Shanks yelled. "Too much talk, time for the banquet!"everyone cheered.

Soon, a long table was propped up in the room, with many large plates of different kinds of food. Shanks sat in the middle, Benn beside him, and Sabo and Sara in front of them both. The pirates were eating like they never had seen food before, though Sabo and Sara kept their composure and ate in a semi-mannered way. Shanks, seeing this, gulped his mouthful of meat and addressed them. "Oi, we know you were born as nobles, but we're pirates! You don't have to eat like that!"

Both of them shrugged and threw away their forks and knives. Sabo immediately grabbed two pieces of meat and started munching on them like a hungry animal. Sara, who just had one piece of meat and was biting it moderately, laughed at his way of eating.

"Dahahaha! You're almost like Luffy!" Shanks told him, and everybody laughed.

* * *

><p><strong>yyeeeah so at some point the story drifted off for a little bit, but always wanted Shanks and Dragon to be childhood friends :D<strong>


	14. Chapter 14

"Take care!" Shanks shouted cheerfully, even though the revolutionaries were barely five feet away.

"Yeah!" Sabo greeted as he walked away, Sara beside him. "Don't forget!"

Shanks looked confused. "About what?" he said puzzled.

Benn facepalmed. "_I'll_ remember," he told Sabo assuringly.

Sabo laughed. "Okay, see ya around!"

He and Sara walked back to Shakky's bar in silence, until in Grove 18 or so, Sara punched Sabo in the arm, in a friendly manner but none too softly.

"Hey! What was that for?" he asked indignantly.

"You never told me you had brothers," Sara grinned. She had silently sat through the conversation on the matter with the purpose of learning more.

"Uhh, I didn't?"

"No. You told me about Goa and Gray Terminal, but you never mentioned any siblings."

"Heh, I guess I let that slip past..."

"So?"

"Uh, what?"

"Tell me about them."

"Well..." Sabo then told her everything about Ace and Luffy, from their ages and looks to their personalities and even eating habits. He even got a little into Garp's visits and their time at Dadan's place.

They arrived at the bar minutes later and were greeted by Shakky.

"Dragon called," she told them. "He said someone will come to get you in a few hours."

Sabo sighed. "So soon..." he said.

"Yeah, I think I'm gonna miss this place," Sara said longingly.

Rayleigh came down from the rooms to the bar. "What, you're leaving?" he said disbelievingly, as he heard the last bit of the conversation when he came down the stairs.

"In a few hours, yeah," Sabo said.

But Rayleigh grinned. "A few hours, eh?" he said thoughtfully, then he clapped his hands once. "Then I guess we have time for one final training session!"

Sabo and Sara perked up at this and beamed. "Yeah!" they exclaimed.

"Mind if i come with you?" Shakky asked. "I haven't been to any of your training sessions, after all."

"You never asked," Rayleigh said to his defense. "But yeah, you can come."

Sabo and Sara started running out the door, but Shakky grabbed their arms.

"_Not_ in your new clothes!" she scolded and dragged them back inside. They went upstairs and came back in more training-appropriate clothes. Then they grabbed their weapons and they all headed for the training grounds.

Four hours later, Sabo and Sara came back covered in sweat and grime, but still grinning. Rayleigh and Shakky were walking a few yards behind them. Sabo reached the bar and opened the door, but he froze. Sara tried to walk past him, but he put an arm in front of her protectively.

"Hey, what's wrong?" she murmured.

"The door was open," Sabo whispered back.

"So?"

"Shakky locked it before we left."

Sara gave him a meaningful look and he nodded. "Act normal," he said.

They both entered the building in a casual manner, but they had their hands on their weapons. They looked around the bar area, but no one was there.

"My, have you grown up," a female voice said from the kitchen.

Startled, Sabo took a fighting stance with his staff and Sara pulled an arrow seemingly out of nowhere and notched it, but they quickly lowered their weapons when they saw who the person was - a woman who looked exactly like Shakky but with elbow-length wavy hair.

"Shinju!" Sabo and Sara exclaimed happily.

"Hey guys! How've you been doing?" the weaponsmaster replied cheerfully, ignoring their previous battle stance.

Rayleigh and Shakky entered the bar. Upon seeing Shinju, Shakky's eyes widened. "Shinju," she said simply.

Shinju seemed as suprised as the other. "Shakky," she said disbelievingly.

For a moment, there was an awkward atmosphere, until the sisters laughed heartily and hugged.

"I didn't know you were here!" Shinju said, breaking the hug. "I thought only Rayleigh-san lived here until I saw the name of the place! You live toghether?" She asked suspiciously.

"Well, yeah, actually..." Shakky whispered something in her sister's ear, and she giggled girlishly. Sabo and Sara thought it weird, because Shinju could be many things, but definitely not girly.

"I always knew you liked older guys," she replied.

"Oi, oi," Rayleigh interrupted. "If you wanna talk about me, do it behind my back," he said jokingly.

They laughed, and Shinju addressed Rayleigh. "Nice to meet ya," she offered her hand and Rayleigh shook it. Then she went to Sara. "Hey, you've been training all this time, right?"

"Yeah, every day," she replied.

"But I don't see any quiver with you! Where did you get the arrows from?"

"Oh, that!" Sara took out a paper from her pocket and unfolded it to reveal its great size. It was about three square feet, and both sides of it were covered in a pattern of identical, three-inch, drawn-to-scale arrows. She peeled out one of them and enlarged it with her devil fruit power.

"Wow, ain't that useful," Shinju said admiringly. "So when you use them, you just swat them with the paper and they get back in it?"

"Yep," Sara said. "When I go to the new world, I'll get it done in a Vivre Card."

"That's a pretty good idea," the weaponsmaster said.

Shinju stayed at the bar for a while talking to Rayleigh and Shakky. In about thirty minutes, during which Sabo and Sara cleaned up and changed back to their new clothes, she stood up and said, "Well, we've got to get going."

"Of course," Shakky said smiling. "Gotta get back to your _dear_ Dragon."

"What are you talking about?" Shinju said in the most neutral tone she could achieve. "Dragon-taisa is my leader and friend - our relationship is purely platonic." This convinced Sabo and Sara, but Shakky wouldn't be fooled, for a minuscule blush crept to the weaponsmaster's face, unnoticed by anyone but her sister.

"Well then, I wish you good luck," Shakky gave her a hug. "Let's meet again."

"Of course!" she replied. She walked outside the door, followed by Sabo and Sara.

"And you guys! Make sure to come back!" Rayleigh called after them.

"Every time possible!" Sabo yelled back. "Bye!"

"Thanks for everything!" Sara also yelled.

Then the bar disappeared from view.

"No way!" Sara said disbelievingly as she neared the coast.

"Is that...?" Sabo said.

"Yep, that's our ship!" Shinju said happily. The younger revolutionaries ran towards the ship docked in Grove 24.

"It's the Dragon Boat!" Sara exclaimed as she jumped on board.

"Well, that's not its name, but I guess you could call it that."

"Damn, this ship brings so many memories," Sabo said longingly.

Indeed it was meaningful to both of them. It was the ship where Sabo had been rescued, and where he got his Bo staff. It was where his first battle took place. It was with that ship that they had found Sara and invited her to be a revolutionary. And they hadn't seen it for at least two years.

"You brought it here by yourself?" Sara asked.

"Yep," Shinju said. "I was hoping you'd help me navigate it." She grinned at them.

"Of course!" Sabo said happily. "Let's set sail!"

Soon enough, they raised the anchor and lowered the sails, heading for the headquarters. But then two Marine warships intercepted them.

Shinju was the one steering, so she asked, "Should I take care of them?"

"No, leave them to us," Sabo said mischievously. He and Sara got ready to jump on the ships when they passed by them.

"Might I suggest that Sara stays here and shoots down the ones at the cannons?" Shinju said.

"Oh, that's better than what I had in mind," Sara said.

"Hey Sara, now might be a good time to give you this." Shinju tossed a small object to Sara. She grabbed it and found out that it was some sort of glove, reinforced at the thumb and index finger, specially made for archers.

"Jeez, thatnks Shinju!" she said happily and put it on her left hand.

One of the warships stopped several yards in front of them, and the other came to drift beside them. Sabo jumped on the one beside them and Sara took her place at the dragon figurehead of the boat. She pulled the arrows out of her pocket and started sniping down the marines on the boat in front of them, starting with the ones in charge of the cannons. Her Haki reinforced her shots, making her arrows so powerful that they went straight through the marines' body parts.

Sabo also had some powerful Haki, being able to knock out several marines with the same hit and foreseeing and dodging every attack they sent him. Then he slightly adjusted the ship's course.

When Sara was done with the cannons, she shot one arrow to the wheel of the warship purposefully without Haki so that the wheel turned and the ship veered out of their course, into the other ship. Sabo jumped back to their own boat.

"So, to Baltigo?" he said casually.

Shinju laughed. "Yeah, let's go."

* * *

><p><strong>:3 just so you know, there's gonna be a filler chapter where Shanks meets Ace and... some bounty posters are shown :D<strong>


	15. NOTICE TO READERS 31-10-12 UPDATE

Alright, I know some people follow this story, and first of all I want to thank you all for your support :D

However, you might have noticed that I haven't updated it in a long time - this is because I've faced a dead end. I don't know what to do with the story. I kinda saw that coming, since it's a story I started in a whim of temporary inspiration. In order to avoid just deleting it, I tried rereading it from the beginning, and only found more reasons to end it.

So this is what I have decided to do: I'm sorry, but A New Revolutionary will now stop in its tracks. BUT, I still like the basic idea, so once I think it through, have the chapters and arcs ready, perfect the plot, improve the writing, etc, it will resurface with the name... *drumroll*

Runaways.

Yup, so 'Runaways' will be the new and improved 'A New Revolutionary'. It might not be complete for the time of release, but I will at least have it until the return to Baltigo.

A NEW REVOLUTIONARY IS NOW OFFICIALLY OVER. Wait for the release of 'Runaways'!

Feedback is appreciated - comment your thoughts, ideas, even contributions to the story~!

EDIT: le wild new story appeared! s/8787892/1/Runaways


End file.
